Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-PicayuneCarriage riders in an Easter parade as it heads along Chartres Street in April. Carriage and cab companies oppose the introduction of pedicabs in New Orleans.

"Bring on the pedicabs. Why and why are the buggy drivers/cabbies
off-base with their concerns? 1) Taxis should be used for longer
distances than just a few blocks. 2) No one is going to take a pedicab
for a sight-seeing tour of a small number of blocks rather than a buggy
driver who goes through a much larger area. 3) Service from the cabbies
has gotten terrible. This ought to force them to shape up. 4) No one
will take a pedicab if it is raining, so the cabbies will still get
that short distance business. 5) The idea that they will cause
congestion is comical when presently the cabbies double-park to pick up
and drop off fares, while the buggy drivers block an incredible amount
of traffic (Remember before Katrina when most of them were polite
enough to pull over every block and wouldn't cut people off.).
This is one of those small but major decisions, in which things will be
the same old-same old in New Orleans or finally a little
forward-thinking."